Better This Way
by slowstarter
Summary: They might not have ended in each other's arms, but the memories they have shared with one another in the little time they had spent together in each other's presence is more than enough.


**I. Found**

It's always a puzzle to Yamaken how on earth does he find himself gravitating towards Shizuku whenever he's going into circles, trying to find his way back home. Being directionally challenged is a characteristic that he dislikes with a passion, but if this one faulty trait he has will be the sole reason (truthfully, it's the easiest excuse he would always give to Haru whenever the other boy questions his luck of hanging out with Shizuku) he could spend some time around the study bug, he supposes he is perfectly fine being one.

"Come with me. I'll show you the way back," she says nonchalantly.

"Yamaken grunts in response but follow her nonetheless. He purposely walks in a slower pace, stretching the little time he has with her by a minute longer possible.

Shizuku will be always be his _arrow_ in his already messed up compass, to navigate him in the right track in whatever direction she may lead him to.

**II. Just because**

No matter how he looks at Shizuku, the study bug, she is just too plain for his tastes. An unfashionable, stone-faced, and monotonous girl, he idly wonders why he had develop such romantic feelings for the her. He catches the sidelong glance Shizuku casts upon him, and when he meets her eyes and traces the curve of a smile in her lips, he remembers why.

It is _simple_.

It's simply Shizuku.

**III. Bait**

Bribing was never Yamaken's _forte_.

Unexpectedly, when it comes to Shizuku, he excels in it with flying colors. _  
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"So are you coming or not?" he asks the study bug and carefully adds, "They've got supplementary lessons on advance trigonometric functions."

He sees her eyes sparkle with interest and celebrates internally at his small triumph. _A study bug will always be a study bug,_ he muses.

"Haru, see you later," she said with her usual monotone voice and hastily walks over to Yamaken's side.

He throws Haru a sharp knowing smirk as they walk further away from him.

Needless to say, he feels superior over Haru in times like this when Shizuku is wrapped tightly against the _hook_ of his little finger.

**IV. Subtle**

Yamaken may not seem like it but he's _thrifty_ with himself.

When the study bug, Shizuku, disrupts his frugal way of spending so little to himself, he thinks it's worth the allowance he spends for her if he could take the girl out for a date (but knowing Shizuku's obliviousness, she would not recognized that she was being asked out by him).

"Buy anything, I'll pay for it," he says as he looks to everywhere but her.

Shizuku doesn't hold back.

Yamaken checks his wallet, _bills thick_.

He is more than prepared.

**V. Monopolize**

They had celebrated Shizuku's birthday at the batting center Micchan owns.

Faint pinkish blush on the curve of her cheeks, orange with pinkish smudge eyeshadow at the crests of her eyelids, black mascara defining her curly lashes to a better volume, the perfect wave of eyeliner traced perfectly at the contours of her eyes, the glossy lustre of her supple lips, and her hair simply resting at the edge of her shoulder blades, Natsume has indeed done a great makeover for her bestfriend.

Yamaken was mesmerized and utterly speechless at the girl standing across from him, and honestly it was his first time to see saw her in the flesh like that, so hauntingly beautiful (though he hasn't deleted the picture of her from Yuuzan's birthday celebration on his phone) and captivating. He was thinking of saying something to her along the lines of _I never knew a study bug could actually be a real lady _as he stares at her, long and spaced out. Instead of spilling those thoughts from his mouth, he chokes unpleasantly from whatever he was drinking.

"Have you fallen for me, again?" She asks so smugly and promptly smiles sweetly by the next second when Yamaken looks at her straight and full in her eyes.

He laughs wholeheartedly as he follows the chorus of laughter their friends echoed. Shizuku joins, voice rich with the same happiness.

The birthday party continues.

_That's so sly. She still remembers, huh_.

**VI. Memory**

During their last year of being together at cram school, Shizuku unintentionally leaves a _memento_ for Yamaken.

After Shizuku bids her farewell to him, Yameken notices a pen left by the twin-tailed girl during her haste. It's the same pen he had returned to her a year ago through Haru. He remembers meeting her in the library, and confronting Haru by the bridge had been the pivotal point that ignited his resolve and feelings for Shizuku.

He doesn't regret confessing and getting rejected by her. Still, he is a good friend, and probably the best man there is for Shizuku (in case something ominous happens to Haru). He was, is, happy, for the both of them, and most of all for himself.

He picks up the pen and safely tucks it in the left breast pocket of his shirt. "I'll keep this, _study bug_."

A smile on his lips and his heart beating in peace, he leaves the classroom where he had spent quality time with Shizuku over heaps of formulas and questions during the years they had been together in cram school. The class has ended.

Three years later, a lady bug pen can be seen safely tucked in the left breast pocket of his lab coat. It is a running rumor in his department that it was given to him by his first love.

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><p>AN: As much a I like Haru and Shizuku, I worship Yamaken and Shizuku. These short drabbles are alternate canon-compliant that happened somewhere in between the chapters wherein we saw Yamaken and Shizuku together. :) Again, no beta ): Thank you for reading!


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